Cloud providers cost. Cheaper to monitor in house. Switch out that Cisco router with a next generation firewall (NGFW).

Team Members

Tagged MSPs

Categories

It all started with OpenDNS. In the early days, we were using their filtering for free. I had departed my company for (supposedly) greener pastures. During my 10 month absence, OpenDNS changed their model and required a subscription to Umbrella which cost $1110 yearly for OpenDNS malware and web filtering, and another $1166 for MX Logic/McAfee SaaS Email Protection. I was sure there was a much more economical solution.
Once I had the green light to check out solutions, I checked the community. Sophos always did stick out since they have a huge presence. I did check out others but the part that stuck out the most was the ease of configuration and the fact that I could actually download a VM and test it out locally! No other vendor had that, although Sonicwall did have an online demo which was beneficial. Watchguard was a mix of several configuration methods and I didn't enjoy configuring that device even with my personalized demonstration with an engineer.
So I purchased the Sophos UTM product for my environment after the costs were provided to management. My time was not included but what else was I doing with my time? Getting the device integrated into our environment has been a bit of a challenge but I would not point fingers at Sophos. My existing configuration with two Cisco routers was using proprietary Cisco protocols so once I managed to figure out that I had to translate to rudimentary language when replacing my local router and still talk to the remote router, it went smoothly.
As of May 20, 2015, I'm still configuring the system. I'm finally adding SPF records to my domain which is causing some issues. Single Sign On features will make tracking individual users' web surfing simple. But it's all about the fine tuning. The GUI of the Sophos UTM makes modifications easy and straight forward. I have not lost any functionality by making this move. I should have done this years ago.
June 5, 2015. Getting my head wrapped around the profiles for web filtering continues but I think I've got it. Still have some sticky bits with SSO and have noticed a few issues that I've got Sophos working on. I'm sure they'll smash the bugs just like Spiceworks does.